What is turbine ?

A turbine is a rotating part which converts kinetic energy of a working fl uid into

useful mechanical energy and/or electrical energy . Simple, right? Well, nothing is

simple when you go deeper.

There are set of blades mounted on a rotor which helps in extracting energy from

the moving fl uid. The effi ciency of turbines depend on the design of the blades.

Different applications need different designs & designing them isn’t a layman’s job.

The 4 types of turbines are-

1. Water turbines
2. Steam turbines
3. Gas turbines &
4. Wind turbines

Turbines used in hydro powerplants :-

The turbines used in hydroelectric powerplants are water turbines which have water

as their working fl uid.

First of all, millions of litres of water is collected in the dam. More the height of

dam, more the pressure. The highly pressurized water is then made to fl ow via large

pipe called as penstock.

The turbine is located at the end of penstock from where the pressurized water

strike the blades of turbine at high velocity making it to rotate. This turbine is

connected to a generator which generates electricity.

The shape of turbine blades depend upon the pressure & velocity of water. Water

turbines are classified into 2 types-

1. Impulse type
2. Reaction type
Types of water turbines with Francis being most widely used.

Impulse type turbines-

Impulse turbines basically work on Newton’s 2nd law.

In impulse turbines, number of elliptical half sized buckets are fi tted instead of

blades on the rotor hub. When water strike the buckets at high speed, the rotor

starts rotating. In short, the kinetic energy of water gets converted into rotational

mechanical energy !

Thus electricity is generated when one end of turbine shaft is connected to

generator !

Example  – Pelton turbine

Reaction turbines-

The turbine blades or the impeller blades are designed in such a way that a force is

generated on one side when water fl ows through it just like an airfoil. The force

produced by airfoil is responsible for lift of aeroplane. Similarly here, that force

makes the blades rotate.

Example  – Kaplan turbine

Different types of turbines have their own ideal operating conditions. For eg.
→ Pelton turbines are preferred where low discharge rate can be obtained & high

head(80-1600m) is available.

→ Kaplan turbines require high discharge rate along with low or medium head(2-

70m).

→ Francis turbine work on medium fl ow rate & medium head. Francis turbine is a

combination of impulse & reaction turbine. Francis turbines are most widely used

turbines because they offer the highest effi ciency & could also work in wide range

of operating conditions.

 1m head of water = 9810 Pa (100m of head is almost 7 times of atmospheric

pressure)

Turbines used in thermal powerplants :-

Also called as steam turbines, they are used in nuclear & thermal powerplants  where

water is heated to form steam & then fl owed through turbines to produce electricity.

Alike water turbines, steam turbines are also classifi ed into impulse & reaction

types but the arrangement & design is different. All the modern steam turbines are a

combination of impulse & reaction type.

Blades of Impulse
& Reaction turbines
Steam turbines consist not only rotating blades called as rotor but also static

blades called as stator. Rotors & stators are placed alternately in order to extract

most energy out of it. This method is called as  compounding.

Also, if you observe, the moving buckets in impulse turbine are designed to get

pushed by the steam. While the rotor blades in reaction turbine are aerofoiled

shape, which lets itself generate reaction & also let steam maintain its velocity !

Section view of a steam turbine

In the image : The steam fi rst fl ows through high pressure(H.P) turbine followed by

intermediate pressure(I.P) turbine. Then again after reheating the steam, it is made

to fl ow through low pressure(L.P) turbines(huge set of blades).

The reason behind increase in blade sizes from inner side to outer side is because

steam expands while losing its pressure & kinetic energy & giving it to turbines.
Gas turbines :-

Parts of a gas
turbine, popularly called as jet engine.
Gas turbines in other words are  internal combustion engines , which are not only

used in powerplants for generating electricity but also for propelling airplanes &

helicopters. Gas turbines as a whole system has a axial compressor at the inlet.

These are sets of rotating blades which suck huge amount of air & compress it

which also increases the temperature. This air is then supplied to the combustion

chamber. Fuel is added into the combustion chamber & ignitor ignites the fuel. Thus

large amount of exhaust gases are produced which are made to fl ow through

turbines.

The different types of gas turbines/jet engines are –

1. Turbojet
2. Turbofan
3. Turbojet
4. Turboshaft
5. Ramjet

The above mentioned are open cycle gas turbines where the exhaust gases are let

directly into atmosphere. The other type i.e  closed cycle gas turbines where the

exhaused are reused again for reheating are used in powerplants.

Here is more detailed working of gas turbines  & different types of gas turbines in

detail .

Wind turbines :-
Parts in wind turbine
Wind turbines are a boon to mankind- affordable, clean & sustainable ! Some

windfarms are so big that they could produce 50MW of power.

Well, coming to working of wind turbines, the story remains same as other turbines.

The rotor has 3 blades & are designed in such a way that when wind fl ows straight

through them, they start rotating. The only problem here is wind turbines rotate at a

very low of RPM. The low RPM doesn’t produce electricity of required frequency &

that is why we require a gearbox which increases the speed of shaft. The output

shaft is then connected to the generator.

The 3 primary types of wind turbines are –

1. Horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWT)

2. Savonius vertical-axis wind turbine (Savonius VAWT)
3. Darrieus vertical-axis wind turbine (Darrieus VAWT)
3 main types of wind turbines
HAWTs are much older & common while VAWTs produce less power, are less

effi cient & hence are not used commonly.

Well, what’s interesting is why do wind turbines have 3 blades  ?

Adding more number of blades increases torque which is not the need here.

Increase in torque decreases the RPM which is undesirable. Also cost increases

signifi cantly.

Also lowering the number of blades to 2 leads to gyroscopic instability & periodic

stresses which makes it unsafe.

Hence, 3 blades makes wind turbines the most effi cient in all terms 🙂

Share your thoughts in the comment section below. I’ll be glad if I could solve any

of your slightest doubts.

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